IANS/New Delhi
The Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday released its second list of Lok Sabha candidates, fielding former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa from Shimoga in the state and Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra from Hooghly in West Bengal.
The BJP announced 52 candidates in its second list including five from Assam, 20 from Karnataka, three from Kerala, five from Odisha, two from Tripura and 17 from West Bengal.
The names were finalised by the central election committee of the party which met here yesterday.
Apart from Yeddyurappa, party candidates from Karnataka include former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda from Bangalore North and party general secretary Ananth Kumar from Bangalore South.
Yeddyurappa had floated his own party after resigning as chief minister following his indictment by the Lokayukta for alleged corruption. He returned to the BJP earlier this year.
The list of 52 candidates includes many sitting MPs, former ministers and party office bearers.
In Himachal Pradesh, an outfit comprising BJP rebels announced it would support the Aam Aadmi Party in all four Lok Sabha seats in the northern state for the May 7 polls.
“Our fight is basically against corruption and since AAP is also fighting on the same front, we have decided to extend support to it,” Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) president Maheshwar Singh said.
He said his party would neither go back to the BJP nor support the Congress.
The four-time former MP said his party wanted an alliance with the AAP. But the AAP wanted HLP to merge with it, which was not possible. “Now, we will support the AAP candidates.”
He ruled out returning to the BJP with which he was associated for over four decades.
“We had raised some questions in the BJP before quitting and we have so far got no answer. In such a situation, it is not possible for us to go back to the BJP,” the legislator from Kullu said.
Maheshwar Singh along with former assembly speaker Radha Raman Shastri and two former ministers - Shyama Sharma and Mohinder Sofat - had resigned from the BJP ahead of the 2012 assembly elections.
They formed the HLP under the leadership of Maheshwar Singh and contested the assembly polls, winning a seat.
In Patna, the Lok Janshakti Party released its first list which has party chief Ram Vilas Paswan and his son Chirag Paswan as candidates who will contest the Lok Sabha election in Bihar.
Paswan senior will contest from Hajipur and his son from Jamui. The senior Paswan’s brother, Ramchander Paswan, will be fielded in Samastipur.
“I will contest from Hajipur where I lost in the last Lok Sabha election,” Ram Vilas Paswan said.
The LJP has fielded Rama Singh, a former legislator with a criminal past, in Vaishali and Veena Singh, wife of Suraj Bhan Singh, who too faces criminal charges, in Munger.
The LJP joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance last month, after a gap of 12 years.
In Chennai, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam said it was offering one more seat to its dissatisfied ally VCK. With this, the Dalit party will contest two of the state’s 39 constituencies.
The DMK said VCK been allotted Tiruvallur constituency near Chennai apart from Chidambaram.
The VCK had demanded five seats.
The DMK has concluded seat-sharing deals with Muslim outfits MMK and IUML and Dalit parties VCK and PT. Barring VCK, all others have got one seat each.
Meanwhile, Vennira Aadai Nirmala, who made her debut in Tamil cinema along with now Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, will be one of the star campaigners for the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
The ruling AIADMK released its 19-member list of star campaigners late Friday. They will begin their campaign across the sprawling state on March 11.
It includes Tamil movie and television artists like director and actor Ramarajan, Vindhya, comedy actors Senthil, Gundu Kalyanam, Singamuthu, Kuyili, TV news reader and actor Fathima Babu, and actors Anand Raj and Ponnambalam.
The list also includes AIADMK leaders such as Nanjil Sampath, S Sasikala Pushpa, Parithi Ilamvazhuthi and Vijila Sathyanand.
In 1986, AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran wanted to nominate Vennira Aadai Nirmala to the Tamil Nadu legislative council. But this did not happen as a court declared her insolvent.
B S Yeddyurappa
